As a lifelong procrastinator, I spent twenty years polishing up the same story. It took a loving push from friends and family for me to finally walk into a local Romance Writers of America meeting to find out how to submit my work to a publisher.

I almost couldn't do it at all. I'm irrationally intimidated by women in hats, and one of the members was wearing a snazzy little red one that practically shouted 'Professional Writer.' I was afraid they'd laugh me out of the room for daring to think my writing could be taken seriously. Lucky for me, they were a great bunch of people who made me feel right at home. They also helped me to see all the things I was doing wrong, like having no conflict and no plot. With the help of a strong critique gro